City council deadlocks again over District 1 appointment

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Ten members of City Council were back in session, but still deadlocked over an appointment to the District 1 council seat vacated by Bill Morrison.

Tuesday night, a motion was made to eliminate Rhonda Logan, the last-standing candidate for District 1, and start considering new candidates. That motion passed and an outburst of frustration followed.

Logan says she's insulted and just wanted to serve her community.

"They don't know me and they can't say why they didn't vote for me," Logan said. "They can only say they didn't like someone who spoke for me.

State Rep. Antonio Parkinson says he felt Logan had enough votes to be seated.

"She should've been appointed first of all, based on getting majority of votes under their rules. Now should be a special election. We would welcome a special election," he said.

Councilman Worth Morgan said he had concern for her candidacy after Rickey Peete spoke on her behalf.

"The two people that were advocating and negotiating on her behalf were Antonio Parkinson and Ricky Peete, who has twice been convicted of public corruption, he has twice been expelled from city council for taking bribes," Morgan said.

Two other seats, one vacated by Janis Fullilove and one vacated by Edmund Ford, must also have replacements appointed by council.

As for a special election, a motion has to be made and that hasn't happened.

Councilman Berlin Boyd says they're addressing each vacant seat in the order of when the former council member resigned, so essentially they can't move forward to vote on the other districts until they vote on someone to represent District One.